Removable tray rack construction



Dec. 25, 1951 s. SAUL, JR 2,579,704

REMOVABLE TRAY RACK CCNSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 14, 1947 3nvenfor Sam-noel.SauLJr:

attorneys Patented Dec. 25, 1951 REMOVABLE TRAY RACK CONSTRUCTION SamuelSaul, J12, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Reconstruction FinanceCorporation, Cleveland, Ohio, acor-poration of the United StatesApplication February .14, 1947, Serial No. 728,687

70laims. 1 This invention relates to rack constructions having removabletrays and relates particularly to the construction of the rack.

Racks have heretofore been developed for use in industrialestablishments which are mounted on a base. The base may or may not beon casters, depending upon whether the rack is to be more or lesspermanently located in one position or is to be freely movable about theplant. Removable trays are provided for these racks into which workpieces are placed by a particular machinist, for example, as he finishessome operation on the work piece. For example, in the mass production ofvarious types of machinery and equipment a given machinist may perform acertain machining operation on a succession of like pieces of machinery.He may remove these from one tray, do the work which is necessary andput them back into another tray. When the tray has been filled it may becarried away, either as an individual 'unit or in conjunction with othertrays on the same rack.

As generally constructed, these racks comprise a base having an uprightstructure, the upright structure having a series of closely spaced hooksthereon onto which the trays may be hung and forwardly from which thetrays project. One difiiculty with racks of this kind as heretoforedesigned has been the fact that frequently the work pieces are quiteheavy. The machinist who is placing such apiece of work in the tray hasto do so with more or less care in order to prevent the tray frombecoming unbalanced and thereby lifting itself clear of the hook at oneend of the tray. Sometimes the work piece may weigh as much as fifty ormore pounds, and the loading of this into one end of the tray wouldcause the other end to lift off its hook. This required that theoperator use care in the loading of the tray more or less evenly. Oneimportant purpose of the present invention is to provide a hook whichwill prevent the tray from releasing itself in this manner.

Another difiiculty with such racks has been that oftentimes, either asthe result of overloading of the tray or accidental bumping against thebottom thereof by the machinist or operator,

the tray would become unhooked thus spilling the contents on the floorand causing damage to the contents as Well as injury tohimself. Oneimportant purpose of the present inventionis to provide a removable trayrack construction that will prevent such tilting of thetray fromoverloading or even from lifting when it is in place on the rack whichis accomplished by means of protuberances which extend from thesupporting hangers on the back of the tray which fit intocorrespondingly shaped openings at the base or adjacent of the hooks tolock the tray to the hooks.

.Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent froma study of the following specification taken with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a rack constructed in accordance with myinvention showing a tray applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged bottom view taken along line II- II of Fig. 1showing the position of the tray when locked onto the hooks of therack;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary bottom view similar to Fig. '2, except that thetray is shown moved laterally from theposition shown in Fig. 2 and inthe unlocked position;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV ofFig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line V--V ofFig. 2, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI o'fFig.2.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, numeral i denotes a base,preferably of sheet metal, supported on legs 2 and 3 of similarmaterial, and having uprights 4 and 5 each comprising vertical anglemembers of substantially inverted V- shape, the lower ends of which arewelded or otherwise secured to base I. A top plate 6 will be similarlywelded or otherwise secured to the apices of'the V-shapes of uprights 4and 5 It will be understood that in the event it is desirable to providea movable rack structure, instead of a stationary one, suitable castersmay be placed underneath legs 2 and 3 so that the rack maybe pushed fromplace toplace as desired. The front angle members or bars are providedwith vertically spaced, specially shaped notches which form a pluralityof pairs of hooks for supporting a plurality of trays in verticallyspaced relationship. These notches, such as 7 and 8, extend downwardlyat an angle with respect to the webs of the uprights stand 5 andhave ashape which is best illustrated in Fig. 4. That is,.notch or .slot 7hasa downwardly inclined portion To, which is conventional in the art,but has in addition thereto a laterally projecting cut-out portion 1b,shown as being substantially semicircular or greater than a semicircle,which latter portion .serves to. lock the tray in place, as will be.seen hereinafter.

More specifically, the tray lfllhasan integral back extension or hangerIlla which extends downwardly at an angle from the back of the tray andwhich loosely fits into the slot 1. In accordance with the presentinvention, there is also provided a rounded protuberance or projectionintegrally formed at the bottom end of extension llla which is shaped ina manner corresponding to the shape of the cut-out portion lb.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the lower end of extension or hanger lais cut out to form bottom slots, such as ltd and file, forming pocketsin an otherwise solid structure. An alternate arrangement would be tobend back and slot the lower ends to form such pockets. Instead ofmaking protuberances, such as we, of solid material, they may be formedby rolling the end sheet portion of hanger I a about a circle.

Fig. shows a cross-sectional view taken through the solid or unslottedportion of the extension or hanger Illa projecting from the back of thetray.

In operation, assume that the tray Ill is removed from the rack and thatthe machinist or operator wishes to support it on the rack. Heaccomplishes this operation by aligning the tray with respect to therack in the manner shown in Fig. 3, that is, by having the lockingprotuberances, such as lflc, offset laterally with respect to thecut-out portions, such as lb, into which they are eventually to fit. Thetray hanger or extension Hla. is then lowered into a pair of slots, suchas I and 8. In this position, the tray can readily be lifted away fromthe hooks or can be tilted somewhat due to the loose fit with notchesforming the hooks. chinist or operator then shifts the tray laterallyuntil the end face of the solid portion Hlg (or other equivalent stopmember) acts as a stop to limit further endwise or lateral movement ofthe tray by abutting against the side of the web of one of the uprights,such as 5, so that the protuberance I00 comes into registry with thecutout 'Ib so as to lock therewith. More specifically, the tray is slidfrom the position shown in Fig.

3 to the position shown in Fig. 2, at which latter position it is nolonger possible to either tilt tray ill or to lift it away from thenotches forming the hooks because of the restraining or holdingbackeffect of the rounded out out portions, such as lb; of the slots, whichsnugly interfit with the V spondingly shaped cut-outs.

Thus it will be seen that a Very effective lock is provided so as toprevent accidental unhooking of the tray from the hooks and spilling ofmachined parts or other contents such as sometimes caused by bumping bythe machinist against the bottom of the tray or from excessiveoverloading. Thus greatersafety is provided so as to protect theoperator. The only way in which the operator can remove the tray Hi fromthe rack is to slide it from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shownin Fig. 3 so as to remove protuberance I00 from registry with therounded cut-out portion 1b so that the tray will be again in a positionto be removed from the rack merely by lifting thereof along slots 1 and8.

While a rounded protuberance I60 and a correspondingly shaped notchportion 1b are shown, it should be noted that other shapes would serveequally well, such as polygonal shapes either at the base of or removedfrom the slot, so long as The ma- 1 the protuberance and slots aresimilarly shaped to provide an interlocking relationship. It will beunderstood, of course, that a plurality of trays, such as [0, eachseated on a pair of hooks formed from a pair of notches, are providedalong the height of the framework 4 and 5.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efficient rack constructionwhich is very simple in construction and economical to manufacture andwhich provides a positive lock between the tray and hooks of the rack soas to prevent unseating or accidental spilling of the tray.

While I have illustrated and described certain specific embodiments ofmy invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustrationonly, and that various changes and modifications may be made within thecontemplation of my invention and within the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. A rack construction comprising an upright supporting structureincluding parallel inclined load-carrying bars having forwardlyprojecting flanges, said flanges being notched to provide a series ofhooks which taper upwardly and outwardly to a point, the lower end ofeach of said notches having a laterally extending cut-out portion, and aremovable tray structure having a hanger on its back portion to engagewith selected hooks formed by said notches, said hanger including a pairof laterally offset protuberances adapted to snugly fit said laterallyoffset cut-out portions, said hanger including pockets at the lower endthereof to facilitate seating of the tray on the hooks, the end portionof one pocket serving as a stop to limit lateral movement of the tray onthe rack structure by abutting against said forwardly projectingflanges.

2. A rack construction comprising an upright supporting structureincluding parallel inclined load-carrying bars having forwardlyprojecting flanges, said flanges being notched to provide a series ofhooks which taper upwardly and outwardly to a point, the lower ends ofeach of the notches having a substantially rounded laterally extendingcut-out portion, and a removable tray having a hanger portion formedfrom a downwardly inclined integral back portion of the tray, whichhanger portion is adapted to be supported by a pair of hooks formed by apair of said notches, the lower ends of said hanger portion having apair of laterally offset, rounded protuberances adapted to snugly fitinto said rounded laterally extending cut-out portions, said hangerincluding pockets at the lower end thereof to facilitate seating of thetray. on the hooks, the end portion of one pocket serving as a stop tolimit lateral movement of the tray on the rack structure by abuttingagainst said forwardly projecting flanges. a

3. A rack construction comprising an upright supporting structureincluding parallel inclined load-carrying bars having forwardlyprojecting flanges, said flanges being notched to provide a series ofhooks at spaced intervals therealong, the lower ends of each of thenotches having a later ally extending cut-out portion, and a removable.

against movement out of supporting engagement on said hooks.

4. A rack construction comprising an upright supporting structureincluding parallel inclined load-carrying bars having forwardlyprojecting flanges, said flanges being notched to provide a series ofhooks at spaced intervals therealong, each of said notches having alaterally and upwardly extending cut-out portion, and a removable trayhaving an extension projecting downwardly and angularly to provide ahanger for supporting engagement on said hooks, and a laterally offsetmember secured to said extension and movable by an endwise movement ofthe tray into said laterally extending cut-out portion to interlock saidextension and thereby said tray against movement out of supportingengagement on said hooks.

5. A rack and tray construction comprising a rack with a support havinghooks thereon, a tray with supporting hanger members at the back thereofadapted to be engaged by a substantially vertical movement of the trayover selected ones of the hooks for supporting the tray on the rack, andinterlocking elements on the hooks and said members, respectively,movable into interlocking engagement by an endwise and substantiallyhorizontal movement of the tray relative to the hook on which it is hungfor restraining the tray when so interlocked against removal from thehook in a vertical direction.

6. A rack and tray construction comprising a rack having a supportingangle with a forwardly projecting flange, said flange having notchestherein at spaced intervals providing a series of hooks therealong, atray having hanger elements at the back thereof movable into supportingengagement on said hooks by a movement of the tray such that the trayparts move in planes parallel to the plane of said flange, said flangeseach having cut-out portions providing recesses extending angularly toand in communication with said notches, and an interlocking member movabe in a direction perpendicular to the plane of said flange into aposition interlocked in said recess to provide an interlock between saidtray "and flange preventing movement of said hanger elements out ofsupporting engagement on said hooks withoutfirst moving interlockingmember out of said recess.

7. In a rack and tray construction, a tray hav-- ing a hanger memberextending along one side thereof, said hanger member being provided withan elongated recess for the reception of a supporting hook, and alocking protuberance on said hanger member parallel to and extendingalongside said recess but of a length less than said recess.

SAMUEL SAUL, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent: l

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 608,629 Wood Aug. 9, 18981,273,397 Neill July 23, 1918 1,340,317 Borden May 18, 1920 1,423,861Levene July 25, 1922 1,473,817 Gorsline Nov. 13, 1923 1,802,245 ForetichApr. 21, 1931 1,806,642 Ohnstrand May 26, 1931 2,316,892 Saul Apr. 20,1943 2,356,473 Saul Aug. 22, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date455,281 Great Britain Oct. 13, 1936

